| Legalism is one of the important academic schools in the pre Qin period.Its theory of thought is an important part of ancient Chinese philosophy,and has an important influence on the development of ancient state and society.The Qin Empire was the most influenced Dynasty by the thought of Legalism,and its prosperity and perdition were closely related to the thought of Legalism.This article mainly discusses the relationship between the Legalism thought and the legal system of the Qin Empire from four aspects.First,the origin of the various factions of Legalism.People usually divide Legalism into three schools of Legalism,Powerism and Tacticism,each of which has its own origin and development.Legalism originated from Li Kui,Wu Qi,matured by Shang Yang,and is represented by "Shang Jun Shu".Powerism originated from Shen Zi and is represented by "Shen Zi".Tacticism originated from Shen Zi and is represented by "Shen Zi".Later scholars began to integrate the three theories,and formed some works,such as "Han Fei Zi" and so on.In the Han Dynasty,it began to have the name and factions of the "Legalism" after talking about the six school of thought by Sima Tan.Second,the ideological connotation of the various factions of Legalism.The main thought are: pay attention to agriculture,to combat commercial and other non productive sectors,control ideas,claims of war;to promote agriculture and war with rewards and punishment means,official position and title of nobility come from agriculture and war;the implementation of the law is the main method of felony,misdemeanor crime punishment and reward,for even accusation;the law should have the certainty,openness,equality,easy to understand knowledge;the monarch is the law makers and implementers,has higher status than law.The main contents of Powerism are: law is the highest rule and standard for all things;the prerequisite for a monarch to play a role is power,so the monarch must guard the power;law is the way of ruling officials,monarch must use law instead of mind.The main contents of Tacticism are: a monarch should use means of Wuwei or other means of control and strict accountability of ministers,law is one of the means of tactics.Third,the relationship between Legalism and the legal system of the Qin Empire.Shang Yang’s Legalism had the greatest influence on the legal system of the Qin Empire and laid the foundation for the post Qin Empire’s legal system.Mainly reflected the influence of Shang Yang on the legal system of the Qin Empire include encouraging agricultural production,discrimination against business and merchants;established the system that positions and titles come from military exploit;take the law as the main criterion means,and the use of more severe punishment;implement relative punishments and encourage blowing the gab.The reference of unearthed materials can be found,there are some inaccuracies in history of Shang Yang’s reform of the legal system of Qin Empire records,also did not fully adopt the Legalism thought,such as: the law is not so strict as thought,and punishments are not all strict;commercial and land transactions are not restricted absolutely;gaining the official position is not limited to the military,there are many other ways;there is not so serious control of thought and culture.Fourth,the relationship between Legalism and the perdition of the Qin Empire.Generally,one of the main reasons the perdition of the Qin Empire is severe law,and this is because the rulers of the Qin Empire adopted the Legalism thought and theory,and blame the Legalism.The Shang Yang’s Legalism thought shaped the basic spirit and content of the Qin Empire law,established the basic policy of the Qin Empire,however,there are many aspects not influenced,especially in the aspect of the implementation of the law,Legalism thought has not been implemented,and some practice is on the contrary.The main reason of the perdition of Qin Empire is the excessive use of people and political corruption,and severe law is not the main reason of the perdition of the Qin Empire.The political corruption of the Qin Empire was largely caused by the thought of Tacticism.Therefore,Tacticism is more responsible than Legalism for the perdition of the Qin Empire.There is no correlation between Powerism and the perdition of the Qin Empire. |
